


Rokushi 2020: Mutual Pining: In Which Two Clueless Zombies Discover Feelings

by CryptidGrimnoir137



Series: Kingdom Hearts: Rokushi Week 2020 [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:20:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24715207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CryptidGrimnoir137/pseuds/CryptidGrimnoir137
Summary: Roxas doesn't understand everything about history or arithmetic. He doesn't really understand his feelings for Xion either. He likes her, he likes her a lot. But does she like him back? Xion knows how to use her Keyblade. She doesn't really know how to play chess. And while she knows she likes Roxas, she doesn't know if he likes her back. Also, Hayner gets annoyed.
Relationships: Hayner & Olette & Pence & Roxas & Xion (Kingdom Hearts), Roxas/Xion (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: Kingdom Hearts: Rokushi Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1786918
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15





	Rokushi 2020: Mutual Pining: In Which Two Clueless Zombies Discover Feelings

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. It is the property of Square Enix and Walt Disney Studios. This is a creative work that I do not profit off of in any way whatsoever.

**Rokushi 2020: Mutual Pining: In Which Two Clueless Zombies Discover Feelings**

Roxas knew he didn't know very much about a lot of different things. He didn't really know much about the history of Twilight Town. He didn't know who had invented the trams they used to get around town, either. He didn't understand his classes in school much either. He didn't understand geometry, though he did okay with algebra. And he didn't understand his feelings either. This wasn't really that surprising, since when he had first come into the world, he had been told that he was a Nobody and thus, did not have feelings.

(That had turned out to be completely wrong—Roxas did have feelings and he was just as much a person as his Other, Sora, was—but that didn't really mean that Roxas wasn't any less clueless).

One thing Roxas did know how to do however, was how to talk to a girl. Olette was gentle and kind and a good listener. So it was to her that he explained the predicament he found himself in, with regards to his feelings. Specifically, his feelings towards Xion.

"She's your best friend," Olette said as she and Roxas walked down Market Street. Roxas held two bags in his hands, purchases from her favorite shops. He felt a little silly having to carry the bags, but he figured doing this could help convince Olette to help him.

"That's just it though…Axel is my best friend. With Xion…it feels different than it does with him."

"Axel's a lot older than us," Olette said. "And don't get me wrong, he's great—for someone who kidnapped Kairi."

"You're still upset abut that? He said he was sorry," Roxas said, shifting one of the bags to his other hand. "Forty-two times, if what Kairi said was right. And Kairi doesn't lie."

"He's still older than us, though," Olette said. "With him, he's really more like your big brother."

"Right…" Roxas said. "But with Xion…it's hard to explain."

"Try me," Olette said. "You never know—I might be able to help you understand what's going on. Can't be any worse than getting advise from Hayner."

"Well…" Roxas said. He paused a moment, trying to think of how he wanted to explain his point as clearly as possible. "With Xion…I feel weird."

He didn't really know a better word to use than weird, and Roxas had a feeling that even if he did know more words, he still wouldn't know which one to use. With Xion, his ears got warm, even when it wasn't very hot outside. And sometimes, he found himself forgetting what was going on, when Xion was around. Her smile…it was nice, the way it curved up and made her cheeks rounder and the way her teeth shined.

"Weird…heh," Olette smiled, and it was a sneaky sort of smile. Axel got that sort of smile whenever he was putting stuff on shelves that Roxas and Xion couldn't reach. It was usually Roxas's stuff, too. "So, Xion makes you happy doesn't she?"

"Well…yeah, of course she makes me happy. She's smart and sweet and funny and brave."

"And…" Olette wiggled her eyebrows. Roxas had no idea what Olette meant when she did that. "What else is she?"

"She's wonderful," Roxas said. "And I like being around her and I like the way she giggles when she takes her first bite of sea-salt ice cream…"

"So why don't you ask her on a date?" Olette asked. "She makes you happy!"

"A what?!"

xxxx

"It'll never work," Roxas shook his head. They had finished their shopping—Olette's shopping really. Roxas had bought himself a pack of gum, but that didn't really count as shopping. They were sitting on a bench in the sandlot. Olette was reading a new book, kicking her legs lightly back and forth.

"You like her though," Olette said, turning a page. "And the way you care about her is different than the way you care about me or Kairi."

"Yeah…but…" Roxas scratched the back of his head. "Things with Xion…what if she doesn't feel the same way about me? She's the most amazing girl ever. She deserves so much better than me."

"Don't talk like that!" Olette said sharply, closing her book with a loud _thud_. "I am sick of you _and_ Xion constantly selling yourselves short! You're both awesome."

Olette was a great friend, and honest to a fault, but Roxas still wasn't sure if trying to become Xion's boyfriend was a good idea. After everything that had happened between them—Xion had actually forced him to destroy her, once upon a time—would it really be so bad to keep things as they were?

"Now, if your concern is that she sees you as a brother, while I'd see your point, I don't think that's really an issue," Olette said. "I've heard Kairi call Xion her sister. And Sora's called you his brother for ages. But I don't think Xion thinks you're her brother."

"Yeah but…what if it doesn't work? Kids at school break up all the time, and then they stop being friends. What if things get weird between us?"

"I can't imagine things being weirder than they already are," Olette said. "I mean, Keyblade stuff is weird no matter how you look at it. And I think…"

"Think what?"

"I think you owe it to yourself to _try._ "

oooo

"Checkmate!"

Xion blinked in surprise and blushed. Pence had beaten her in just six moves. She wasn't usually this bad at chess. It made sense though. Her mind had wandered.

"Alright, what's going on?" Pence asked, as he began putting the pieces back to their starting positions. "You're not nearly this sloppy. I haven't been able to beat you that quickly since I first taught you how to play. Spill the beans."

Xion still didn't understand where that idiom had come from, though she did know what it meant. Pence wanted to know what was bothering her.

"I guess I was just thinking. Nothing's really wrong," Xion bit her lip. "I was thinking about Roxas."

"You think he'd want to join the Chess Club?" Pence asked. "It'd be great to have another player."

It would be nice to have Roxas in the Chess Club, which at the moment consisted of Pence and Xion…and nobody else (Xion was still learning how to play herself). But chess wasn't really Roxas's style—Roxas liked working with his hands more than playing with his head.

"Wait a second…oho!" Pence said. "You like Roxas, don't you?"

"Um…yeah, of course I do," Xion said, ducking her head down. She could feel her face beginning to turn red. "Roxas is my friend. Like you. Um…Pawn to E4."

"Not what I meant, and you know it!" Pence said. Xion looked up at him. Pence was grinning broadly, wide enough to eat an entire bar of ice cream in one bite. "You like him a lot! And Pawn to E5."

"He's my best friend!" Xion protested. "There's nothing else there. I don't know what you're talking about! Er, almost forgot…Bishop to B5."

"He's not just your best friend! You want to marry him, don't ya!" Pence said. "Ha ha ha, I knew it! Ha ha ha! Ienzo owes me a new computer mouse! Knight to F6."

"You can't tell!" Xion pleaded. She tried to widen her eyes—Axel always said it was impossible for him to say 'No' to her when he saw her big blue puppy eyes. If it worked on Axel, it could work on Pence.

"Nice try," Pence shook his head. "So you and Roxas, huh? Well, if it makes you happy…"

"Of course, he makes me happy!" Xion said. "Roxas is remarkable! He's strong and fast as lightning and brave. And he's one of the most caring people I know."

"Sounds promising," Pence said, scanning his chess pieces. "So ask him out. There's no rule that says the boy should be the first to ask the girl."

"What?!" Xion shouted. "No, no, no, no! I can't! What if Roxas doesn't like me that way? No way!"

"I dunno," Pence said, taking one of her pawns with his knight. Xion frowned. She didn't like it when pieces got taken. She'd get even though. She used her knight to capture Pence's.

"He's awesome," Xion said. "But I don't think it'd be a good idea to try and date Roxas."

"And why not?" Pence asked as he pushed his own bishop onto the board. "You like him. The worst that can happen is he says no."

"But I don't know how to date!" Xion said. "Axel never taught me what that was like, and it never came up in the Organization anyway."

Pence shrugged and waited for Xion to take her turn. Xion frowned. She wanted to make sure that whatever she did didn't make it easy for Pence to take any more pieces.

"Nobody really knows what it's like to date, when they're just starting out," Pence said. He seemed like he was trying to be encouraging. But it still didn't make Xion feel any better, especially since she was fairly sure he liked Olette, and still hadn't tried to ask her out.

oooo

"Both of them?" Hayner asked. "Now?!"

"You can't say you're surprised," Olette said as she paid for the three sea salt ice cream bars. One each for Hayner, Pence and Olette.

"Of course, I'm not surprised. What really gets me is that those two aren't actually acting on their feelings."

"This isn't fighting monsters," Pence said. "It makes sense that something stressful that's still…you know normal would be something they'd take their time with."

"There's a big difference between taking things slow, and being oblivious. Let me get this straight: they both like each other, and neither one of them know the other likes them."

"Yep," Pence said. "Makes me wonder if Riku goes through this sort of thing with Sora and Kairi."

Hayner shuddered. He'd only known Roxas and Xion a couple of months. Sora and Kairi he had known longer—technically—but had spent far less time with. Those two were crazy about each other, and given that Roxas and Xion were more or less Sora and Kairi's clones (Hayner knew the truth was more complicated, but frankly, he didn't really care—none of that Nobody and Replica stuff meant that Roxas and Xion weren't people), it would make sense that they would be crazy about each other too.

But Roxas and Xion had only known each other about a year and a half, not even. Sora and Kairi had been friends for, what, a decade? And Riku was their other best friend and if he had had to put up with this sort of thing for ten years…

Well, let nobody say that Riku didn't have the patience of a monk. Hayner had figured out that Roxas and Xion had some sort of feelings for each other ages ago. It'd been really obvious from his point of view: They constantly made goo-goo eyes at each other. They constantly bought each other ice cream and candy and cookies. They constantly complimented one another. It'd be weirder if they didn't wind up crushing on each other. And they were starting to drive him nuts, to be honest.

"So, how do we get them together?"

"We?" Olette asked, putting her hands on her hips. "Oh no. I am _not_ doing this. We should respect that Roxas and Xion's feelings. Roxas doesn't want to ask Xion out."

"We already know their feelings though! They have feelings for each other!"

Olette took her hands off her hips and crossed her arms instead. Hayner groaned. There would be no arguing with Olette now. Whenever he argued something and she crossed her arms, that meant she was angry enough to tell on him. Though who precisely Olette would tattle to, Hayner wasn't sure.

xxxx

"Hayner, what sorts of shapes do you think Xion sees in the clouds?" Roxas asked, as he took a bite of his ice cream bar. "She's so imaginative, don't you think?"

 _What did I do to deserve this?_ Hayner thought to himself as he shifted his spot on the clock tower. _Is this punishment because I fell asleep during Mass last week?_

"It's really amazing, isn't it?" Roxas said. "The way she snorts when she laughs really hard."

Whether this was punishment or not, Hayner was pretty sure he was about to go crazy. It'd been a week since Olette and Pence had said that Roxas and Xion were goo-goo for each other, and now, whenever he and Hayner were alone, Roxas never shut up about her. Not that he hadn't talked about her all the time in the first place, but it seemed a lot more annoying now.

He stared as hard as he could into the distance, in order to clear his head of anything other than Roxas pining for Xion. The sunset was brilliant, as it always was. In the distance, Hayner could see vegetable fields and further back than that, the woods. One of the orange trains was chugging along on a nearby track, taking passengers to Sunset Terrace.

"Yes," Hayner said through gritted teeth, "She's the most amazing girl in the entire stinking world, and you should do something about it!"

"Er…Olette told you, didn't she?"

"C'mon on, Roxas!" Hayner said, "What's the worst that can happen if you ask Xion out? It's not like she's gonna get mooshed back into Sora's heart, is she?"

The moment he said this, Hayner regretted it. That was probably the meanest thing Hayner could have ever said, and he honestly wouldn't have blamed Roxas if he punched him for it.

But Roxas to his credit, didn't punch him. He didn't even look up. He just stared far out into the sunset.

"She won't disappear. I won't let that happen, not again. But…after everything…what if she doesn't like me? Like that, I mean?"

Olette had mentioned that Roxas wasn't sure he was good enough for Xion—which was ridiculous, in Hayner's mind—but this sounded a bit different. As if he was afraid of her in a way. But even if she didn't like Roxas that way—and come on, she totally did—that didn't mean Roxas shouldn't try to make a move.

Hayner had been there once with a girl in his science class…two, no three years ago, was it? Sarah. Blonde hair, blue eyes, and these really cute dimples. But Hayner had been an absolute chicken about asking her on a date. He had hesitated and hesitated and hesitated and then…she'd moved away. He'd gotten over it, eventually, but still. It had stung at the time.

"Hi guys," Xion said, walking up with ice cream in hand, Olette and Pence right behind her. She smiled shyly at Roxas and dipped her head away. Even from this angle, Hayner could see her blushing. "What's up?"

Okay, that was it, Hayner was absolutely sick of waiting. This was taking far too long! And if he didn't act now, he'd wind up like Riku, and he'd be stuck watching Roxas and Xion be goo-goo around each other forever! And listening to Roxas whine about Xion for even longer.

"What's up?" Hayner repeated. "Nothing much Xion…Roxas kicked my butt at Struggle…again. But he beat Seifer blindfolded, so that was neat. Also, he's nuts about you but is too big a doofus to ask you out on a date."

Roxas made a noise that was somewhere between a yelp, a shout and a gasp. Xion's mouth fell open so widely, she could have swallowed her ice cream bar whole. As it was, she dropped it and it fell all the way off the clock tower, splattering on the ground below.

"Aaah!" Olette said, "Hayner! I told you not to do this! Pence! Back me up here!"

Pence looked at Olette and then to Hayner and then to Roxas and Xion who were staring at each other with…goldfish eyes. Well, better that than goo-goo eyes, anyway.

"Uh…." Roxas said, his eyes wide. His half-eaten ice cream began to melt and stain his pants.

"Um…" Xion said, rubbing her arm. "I…um….er…oh, boy."

"It…I…see…you…me…."

Hayner swallowed the last of his ice cream and felt a rush of pleasure. Ha, ha, ha. After listening to Roxs go on and on and on about Xion, the stunned silence and monosyllable phrases were heaven.

"Should we give you two some privacy?" Olette asked. "We can leave if you like."

"No…no…we should go," Xion said. She looked at her empty hand, as if just now realizing what happened to her ice cream. "I…um…need to do my homework."

"It's summer vacation!" Pence protested. "You don't have any homework due."

"Then I need to call my dad," Xion said. She got to her feet and brushed herself off.

"Yeah…" Roxas said. He got to his own feet, biting his ice cream bar down to nothing. "I need to…feed the cat."

Roxas and Xion didn't have a cat, or any other pets, since they had responsibilities as Keybearers and were constantly leaving Twilight Town. Hayner made a note to teach Roxas how to tell more convincing lies in the future.

He watched as Roxas and Xion walked down the steps of the clock tower. They stared at one another, but not actually seeing each other. Hayner couldn't tell what they were saying.

"We should respect their privacy," Olette said, turning her head to look at the very top of the clock tower's spiral. Hayner ignored her. Roxas and Xion were staring at one another more closely now, from the looks of it. Roxas took Xion's hand. Xion put an arm around Roxas's neck. And then…Roxas and Xion…were kissing?! Finally!

"It happened! It happened, it finally happened!" Hayner shouted. "Ha, ha, ha!"

Roxas and Xion were walking away from the plaza now, holding hands…in the loosest sense of the word anyway, but still.

"She likes him, he likes her, and now I'm free!" Hayner said. "Free, free, free! No more listening to Roxas pine after Xion!"

"You realize what this means, right?" Olette asked.

"I lost my bet with Sora?" Pence said. "He figured they'd get together by the end of summer."

"No…" Olette put her hands on her hips. "You two knuckleheads are gonna have to listen to Roxs go on and on and on about…dating Xion.

That's right…now Hayner would have to hear…what it was like to be in a relationship…from Roxas.

Dang.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: And with that, the first story for Rokushi Week is complete! Thank you for reading my dear, dear readers. Leave a comment if you're so inclined. I appreciate each and every one of you!


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